


Not My World

by Monkeysock



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Alternate Universe, Gem War, Gem-Verse, Gen, Healing, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, John is a Gem Human Hybrid, Major Character Injury, No Steven Universe Characters Involved, Past Abuse, Past/Present changeovers, Sherlock is a Gem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-07 22:10:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4279764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monkeysock/pseuds/Monkeysock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John is a Gem-Human Hybrid in the middle of the war for Earth.  Incredibly injured, he manages to warp away, but to an entirely unfamiliar, otherworldly place.  The Gem there is the most unusual one he has ever seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not My World

**Author's Note:**

> My first post for this AU. This is not a crossover, this just expands on some concepts from both sides. Comments are welcome!

_“Oh Jesus…”_

_“Oh Christ, I’m hit!”_

_“Fall back!!”_

_“Oh Jesus, it’s cracking… I can’t do it… It isn’t letting me… I have to mooooove…”_

_BLAM_

 

 

 

It was like a hangover, John felt sick to his stomach and disconnected like his head was stuffed with marshmallows.What was he doing before? It took him a long time to open his eyes.

Opening his eyes didn’t help him.He shut them.

He grit his teeth and took a breath.He tried to clench his fists, but the disconnected feeling prevented him from doing anything. He couldn’t even say where his hands were.

“You are safe,” said a voice.

John opened his eyes.He was able to scan around where he was.It was like a bed, but it was filled with a heavy grain of some kind of salt. It looked like he was in a flat, not a hospital or field barracks.If he were being kept hostage, he would have expected to be in a bunker of some description, not a place with bookshelves and antique rugs.

John could only half-see the speaker.It was moderately tall, thin…and a dark gem on his left arm. John tensed up. He reevaluated the features.Dark features with pale striations and bands, probably an agate or onyx.Onyx could be that dark.Strange though, it looked pure, but presented as male.

“Why am I here?” John asked calmly.The onyx tapped his fingers together in the field of John’s vision, then made a sort of questioning noise, as if he didn’t know himself.

John tried to sit up, he wanted a proper view, but a wash of nausea prevented him. “Listen,” he started, “if I am a prisoner of the Homeworld, I have rights. There is the prisoner of war agreement and you’ll ha-…” It was all he managed before his vision began to cloud.He was unconscious a moment later.

 

_“Why did you bring him here?”_

_“I DIDN’T bring him here, he warped here!”_

_“He didn’t. That pad is not functioning. Certainly not off world.Where did he say he was from?”_

_“Somewhere at war with Homeworld.”_

_“It is still impossible.”_

_“And yet I have an injured Gem in my living room.”_

_“Did you notice the…”_

_“Blood. Yes. I did. His gem is wrapped in organic matter. That might be a clue… He can’t heal himself.”_

_“…”_

_“He looks like a moonstone.”_

_“Yes, likely.”_

 

 

_The war had gone on for as long as anyone on Earth had remembered.It wasn’t so much as fighting for most humans, but enduring what was going on around them, to see which side won and finally have their fate sealed.The Gem Homeworld had designated the Earth a mineral-rich planet. Kindergartens were ready to ship and strip the planet of its raw components and replenish the Gem army.All humans knew this.It was as much ancient history as it was current events._

_There were some Gems that had sided with the planet.Hundreds of years ago, those Gems had driven off the advancing forces of the Homeworld armies, leaving many humans dead and Gems shattered. The war-torn Gems settled with their human companions to live in peace._

_It remained that way for many hundreds of years, the Earth Gems trying to fend off the glow of other-worldly Gems and the creatures of space that began to take notice of the organic planet.Eventually, their numbers began to dwindle and harder decisions had to be made. The gems on Earth had decided together to protect the people by becoming the people.Gemshards were worn around the neck.Families protected Gem artifacts, learning as much as they could.And once per generation, a gem holder, knowing its time of usefulness was fading, would find a partner to organically create a new host for the gem while the physical form disappeared._

_Gems are passed down from generation to generation, most of them having several incarnations residing inside them.Until the child created is a boy._

_John had been the third of his family to hold this gem, and now the line is extinct.Earth didn’t care much for the Sons of Gems, let alone those who failed the line so quickly. Their power never reached the potential that the females had, they never had the innate knowledge born into them.It was all a struggle to learn for them.So John, like all other Sons of Gems, was sent to the army as soon as he was old enough._

 

 

John woke again, this time more slowly.He couldn’t see much as he couldn’t move his head more than a slight nod.He could see a tall ceiling, stone, expertly carved. There were windows, a fire altar to one side, books and artifacts cluttering the surfaces.He was laid to one side of the room near some chairs and low tables. It was like a small temple, John’s gem felt a draw to it, yet at the same time, was cluttered like someone’s messy flat. 

He stretched, this time able to move his fingers, still through the coarse salt he was laying on. This made him more relaxed, so he took a few deep breaths.His head was still muddled, but he didn’t feel any pain.Just a kind of a drunken haze that made him want to stay where he was.He realized he must be drugged. 

“The salts weren’t working like we had expected, Moonstone.Another treatment has been prescribed,” came the same voice from before.John’s brow furrowed.Homeworld Gems never took the time to heal the human hybrids.They considered them an abomination, and only a lasting agreement prisoner trade agreement left any live ones come home, usually with gems so damaged they could never fight again. If this guy wanted him alive, John thought, it wasn’t to make him better. 

“Treatment for what, exactly?” he asked, attempting snide confidence. The stranger approached from behind where John was laying.

“Your injuries,” he replied. “You have numerous fractures of your internal framework, and ruptures in the fluids and organic mesh that surround them.”

John waited a moment. “Bones?” he suggested. “You are saying I have broken bones and what… lacerations and abrasions on my- I’m guessing- organs and tissue? That I was bleeding?”Did this Gem really not know human anatomy?

“Bones! Yes. I have heard of that,” nodded the stranger. “You are quite the enigma. I have never seen a Gem like you. One would expect a Gem to release its form if it were attempting to heal, but as your gem is cracked, you likely can’t. Healing the crack will be easy once we heal your body, and after a few experiments I am sure I can find the correct method to proceed.” He came forward to one of the chairs and sat down.

His form was different than John had seen before.He hadn’t known of any Homeworld Gems that presented as male.He’d never known it to matter, the gems on Earth had told them that they could be whatever they wanted to be, this was just what was known.Perhaps in the centuries that have passed, the Homeworld had come to know more?  

The Gem wore dark clothes, almost a glistening black and white that matched the striations in the onyx of his skin.His gem was on his left forearm, revealed in a window in his black jacket. His face and hands were a milky white with random black layers that accented his features.His hair was dark and curly, his eyes were small and keen and he was staring intently at John. 

“What are you going to do with me when the injuries are treated? Am I going home” John asked, breaking their momentary silence.The onyx Gem blinked and looked confused.

“I’m sorry, Moonstone, I think you have to stay here for a little while.” 

Ah, so he  _was_  a prisoner of war. Traded out when the major fighting was over.Humiliating but not something he couldn’t withstand.He stayed silent for a while.

“We don’t do that, by the way,” John said.The onyx looked up once again. “Nobody calls me that. We are given names, we don’t go by the name of our gem.”  

The onyx considered this.

“Then what are you called?”

“John.”

“Hello, John.I am Sherlock.”

 

 

 

 

 

_Harry had always hated John.She’d been taken in from a close by family who didn’t make it, raised as his sister, but she, like all children raised on Earth knew what a male Gem meant.It meant a tiny bit less hope for the planet.And so she would lead the children to pick on John.He couldn’t defend himself- he had nobody to show him how- so the children would throw rocks and shout at him._

_Once Harry had tried to pin him to the ground and pry the gem out of his shoulder with her fingernails.He struggled and screamed but she’d claw and smack at him.And then, out of nowhere, the gem had a little glimmer. Harry dug at it harder.Then a massive burst of energy shot out of the little moonstone._

_Harry was knocked back.The windows of the house rattled. Fruit fell off the apple tree behind them._

_Then the adults came rushing. John’s gem wasn’t useless.He was at least a minimum qualification for the scouts.It was somewhere to put him. Somewhere they didn’t need to look at him anymore._

_When John was dropped off at the station, Harry didn’t even wave goodbye._

 

 

 

“Is it only me, then?” John asked a while later.He felt awkward having his jailer just watching him al the time.

“Were you expecting somebody else?” the Gem, Sherlock, said.

“It depends on what is going to happen here,” John said. 

“Is something going to happen here?” he asked.He was seated again, across from John on an armchair, fingers steepled together.

“Why do you keep doing that!?” John shouted. He wished he could have slammed his fists on something.

“Doing what?”

“THAT! That! Answering me with a question like a bloody psychiatrist.”When the Gem looked at him quizzically he added, “A human who tries to analyze your thoughts based on what you say.”

“I don’t need to listen to what you say, you have plenty of tells for me to gather information.” The Gem leaned forward. “You are a soldier. A Gem-human hybrid, and I only say human because you have just used that word.The Gem Homeworld is rending your planet and has been for some time. The human side is losing slowly. You were involved in some sort of explosion in some heavy combat. You have been training for battle since you were a child but do not have access to all the abilities of your gem. I am not exactly sure of why that is, but it is shared by others because your military division seems to have similar characteristics.”

John blinked slowly a few times.“You didn’t bring me here, did you?”

Sherlock leaned back in his chair. “I have no idea who or what you are, where you came from or why it happened now.”He stood and walked to one side of the room where a bookshelf was.There was a rise in the floor, very subtle, dark, almost unnoticeable.  

“This, we’ve discovered, is a warp pad.It has been in this temple for … ever. It has always been here since people have been here.Nobody we know has been able to use it, and we’ve never known where it led to.Two days ago, you appeared on it, in my living room, er, the temple. Where I live.” 

John looked at the warp pad.Usually they were green and vivid.This one was low and grey.Like a manhole cover really.  

“So when you complain of me asking questions–“Sherlock started.

“–you are basically interrogating an intruder.” John finished.

“Precisely.”

“How long before I’m well enough to go home?” he asked while Sherlock adjusted something behind his line of sight. 

“It is hard to say.We are not used to dealing with any sort of organic material here, I’m afraid.”

“And where is here?”

“We’re on Gem Offworld Outpost Planetoid 1895. A ‘Goop’.”

“Right.” John had never heard of that before.Obviously the Homeworld Gems had conquered other worlds, why would the Earth be any different.

“Wrong,” said Sherlock. “But we will get to that later,” he said as John faded back to sleep.

 

 

_John only managed to use his gem a few times when he was in the scouts, but they set him above the others.Most of the young men were scared. Their gems had been inherited damaged or worn down to nothing after the generations of passing it on.The fact that John could produce energy from it was amazing to most._

_One day, he almost got a weapon summoned.Almost.There was a simulation involved inside one of the temples.He was supposed to run through an obstacle course and concentrate on creating a protective glow.Some of the boys could do that.A part of the course malfunctioned and a statue was knocked off its pedestal._

_John instinctively put his hand to his shoulder. He could still remember how it felt, how it shone in bright silver, and how it immediately wanted to sync with his body. And then it just stopped. The energy faded and fell apart, and the statue nearly struck him.His instructor was able to shatter it with her weapon, and John made a narrow escape. John was left bruised by some of the debris, but the instructors were incredibly impressed._

 

 

 

 

When he woke up next, there was a new Gem sitting in the chair.It had some similarities to Sherlock. Like Sherlock, it presented as a male with black tones and striations around his body.His build was a bit broader and heavier, and his gem appeared over his heart, like a pocket square in a neatly pressed suit, or like a medal on a ceremonial military outfit.

John also noticed that this Gem had its weapon summoned.It could have been a sword, for all John had known, but it could equally have been an umbrella.It was comfortable in the Gem’s hand, and John knew that the Gem knew how to use it. 

“Good Morning, John.” This Gem’s voice was nasal and off-putting.

“I wasn’t sure that this planetoid had mornings,” he said, trying to shift into a seated position.He still couldn’t struggle to get up, so all he managed was a nod of acknowledgement towards the new gem. “Good morning to you as well, I guess.”

“We have lots of things on this planetoid,” replied the gem, “but we have never had anything like you.”

“Always nice to be told you are one of a kind.” John retorted. This felt more like sparring than a conversation.

“Quite.” The Gem continued with its critical gaze. “To be honest, we are not sure why you are here.”

“That makes two of us.”

“You don’t know why you are here,”

“There’s that,” John started, “but I also don’t know why  _you_  are here.Where is Onyx?”

The Gem smiled his uncomfortable thin smile. “You mean Sherlock,” he said, “he’s just stepped out.He will be back soon.”

John was still distrustful. “Tell me what is going to happen to me, that they are going to send me home.”

“What makes you so sure I could possibly know that?”

“Because you look like you have enough political sway to destroy the entire galaxy.”

The smile returned. “Your planet must be fascinating to produce beings like you. I must visit sometime.”

John gritted his teeth. “If it is so fascinating, then why are you rending it into the ground?While we are having this little chat, my friends and family are being destroyed and killed by the steamrollers that your people keep sending to us. But I am sure you know all about that, Homeworld Gems never care about the planets they take.”

The other Gem was silent for a few moments.He gripped his umbrella and twirled it around in place on the floor.John eyed it.  

“I thought you would have realized by now,” he said after a while. “Sherlock and I are not Homeworld Gems.Sherlock is here to monitor this temple, I have other duties on the planetoid.We were created here, abandoned, and now are only meant to occupy this space. Just a checkmark on the Homeworld Gem planet collection book.”

John nodded, frowning. “Right, but what was here before the Gems took over?”

The other Gem looked baffled. “I have no idea. I never thought to ask.”

John hummed, disappointed. “Then, yeah, you are one of them.”

He looked pensively at John for a while, then stood and did something just beyond John’s line of vision.John was suddenly quite tired and his eyes gently closed.

 

 

 

“You have been making me sleep,” John called out when he woke next. There was a clatter in the kitchen.

“Yes,” came Sherlock’s reply.

“And you have been keeping me in this spot.”

“Correct.”

John took a breath to keep himself calm. “And not all of this was to help in my healing.”

This earned him footsteps.Sherlock approached from another room holding two flasks which he captured with his gem’s glow and magicked them away for later. Sherlock stood before John. “Yes, I am keeping you here.”

“Why?”

“Should I not be cautious of a stranger, much less a soldier of undetermined origins, appearing in my home?I think my solution was elegant in that it harmed no one.”

John frowned, but found himself not able to disagree.It must have been obvious on his face, since Sherlock stepped forward. 

“I did decide to trust you in degrees,” he said, putting his hands over John’s ribs, then leg. It was like he was using his hands to help him see even more clearly, microscopically clearly. In a clever way, this time… not just Gem magic.“From what I can detect, I have managed to functionally mend your internal scaffolding.” 

“I am a trained medic, I can tell if I am injured if you let me move.”John tried not to sound too needy. “And then I can tell you all about my bones and how to treat them.”

Sherlock smirked. “Soon.”he said, but reached behind John and activated something.It was like someone standing on John’s arms had turned into talcum powder and blew away. He could now move both his arms and tilt his head.  

“Thank you,” John said, reaching for Sherlock. Sherlock moved to allow John to grasp his hand in a friendly handshake. John clasped it in both hands and shook it. Sherlock looked baffled at first, but was looking content to allow the custom to continue– until he saw blood drip down John’s elbow.

“Crap, must have been one of the scabs coming off.” John said.He had enough range of movement to tear a piece of his shirt off the bottom and wipe the dripping blood. Sherlock looked like he needed to do something, get help or record data or something. John shushed him. The bleeding stopped after a few minutes.

Sherlock looked at him, astounded.

“What is it like?”

“Hmm? John asked, blotting the scabby area.

“Having air and fluids move about inside you.”

“You mean breathing and pumping blood?”

Sherlock nodded, watching the little dribbles get mopped up.

“I don’t know. I don’t normally think about it.It just happens.”John took another strip of his shirt and wrapped it around his forearm as a make-due bandage. “For us, we really don’t notice until something isn’t working correctly.And most of the time, by the time we notice it is far too late.”

Sherlock scoffed.“That seems terribly inefficient. You should have developed a way to retreat into your gem.”

John sighed. “Would be nice.”

“Honestly, one would think human frailty would seek all the help from magic they could.”

John shrugged again and realized his eyes were getting heavier.Sherlock hadn’t been entirely panicking.He had been turning the sleepiness on again.  

“Maybe humans find that when they seek the help of magic, there’s always a price.”

 

 

 

The next time he woke up, all the blood was gone from the floor and surrounding area. John was wearing a clean and blood-free shirt.John didn’t have to imagine too hard that Sherlock had put those samples in the test tubes and flasks he’d seen last time.

 

 

_“I am going to have to let him up soon,”_

_“Sherlock, I would advise against that.”_

_“I know you would, it still doesn’t change the fact that he needs to move around. His tissues will soften if left like this.”_

_“…”_

_“Okay I don’t know if that is true or not, but he is becoming restless.”_

_“Fine.But he doesn’t leave the temple.”_

_“Of course not.”_

_“And nobody else is to see him.”_

_“Don’t take me for a fool.”_

_“Be careful, brother.This could have serious consequences.”_

_“I know.”_

 

 

 

 

The first time John was allowed out of the bed of salts was not as difficult as it could have been. Sherlock had been correct, the bones had nearly set, but they were in no way a hundred percent healed.And John was still trying to function with a cracked gem.It was trying.  

John sat up slowly.Sherlock was a little further away than John expected, but Sherlock was no nursemaid. He was an observer.He wasn’t there to nurture.  

As soon as John tried to put weight on it, the pain in his leg shot through his body. He nearly fell on his face, but Sherlock was instantly at his side, his gem glowing in case needed.

“You aren’t ready.” Sherlock’s hand began to glow as John turned around to see what was making him sleep.It was a stone artifact with a crystal form of a face, eyes closed. The artifact was fixed into an input on the bed of salts. It began to glow as well. 

“No nono no, don’t make me sleep again, I just need to get us..sed… to….” John began to slump over. 

Just as he felt himself be lowered into the bed once again, he heard a faint, “I’m sorry.”

 

 

 

_One of the boys had fallen in training.He had a small selenite gem on his sternum that was practically chipping anyways, but he fell, and it smashed.Topaz, one of the Gem instructors, wouldn’t let any of the other boys see him._

_The commander had told them all that the selenite boy was too injured to continue training. In the past, some gems had powers that could heal, but there was no healing a broken gem like this.He was to be sent home._

_John and Bill snuck into the medical ward to see off the kid. They thought he was lucky to be going home.He didn’t sound lucky.There were military people all around.Bill wanted to turn back, but John wanted to see.The boy crying and screaming while Topaz held him.Doctors and people in lab coats taking the pieces of broken gem off of him, and handed them to a Gem to examine.Bill began to cry but John hushed him.It looked like they were trying to access any residual power from the gem, either from the former lives this gem had lived, or anything the boy had.Some of the shards glowed, and they picked those ones to put into talismans. One larger piece was taken from the boy and put into the hilt of a knife._

_Eventually it was too much for the boy and he passed out, Topaz rocking him gently.John could see he was left with a small little shard in his chest. He was also bleeding. John wasn’t sure he could see the boy breathing._

_John and Bill told the rest of the boys later on to never let their gems get cracked, but they never told them why._

 

 

 

“Do you have healers on this planet?” John asked.John had been allowed to move about for a few days now, he was feeling a lot better, and was getting used to Sherlock’s eccentricities.Sherlock put down his book.

“Am I doing something wrong?” Sherlock asked, his eyes looking John over.John shook his head.

“No, and I do appreciate you taking all the time to take care of me. My body is doing much better. It is just…” John hesitated, but pulled the neckline of his t-shirt to one side to reveal the cracked moonstone, “I was wondering if someone would be able to heal the crack in my gem.”

Sherlock stared at John for a while.“When you first got here you were adamant to go home, but you haven’t mentioned home in a number of days.There is a stigma about human-Gem hybrids isn’t there?”

John nodded. Of course this guy was able to figure it out. He’d figured out almost everything.“More so for ones who are broken.I know you are doing something to prevent it from getting worse.That or being in your temple is keeping me safe, but if I go home, I am sure I will be put under some pressure to give up my gem.”

“Give up your gem?” repeated Sherlock, baffled. “They cannot just take it out of you, it is your essence. Your being is that gem.”

“They don’t see it that way on my planet. It isn’t discussed, but I have seen some bad things happen.”

Sherlock said nothing, he just looked on at John, between the crack and John’s face.

“It isn’t a big deal, if I can figure out how to get home, I can conceal it and find some tears or something. They sometimes have them on the black market. It might be enough.”

“No, I can find someone.” Sherlock said.His voice was soft and his eyes were still large.“I can fix the rest.”

 

 

_“Sherlock, I can’t.”_

_“Don’t worry, he won’t harm you.Look, he is asleep right now, he can’t harm you.”_

_“He could tell someone. If Homeworld finds out they will send me–”_

_“He is off-world, yes, but not from Homeworld.You can see he is different.”_

_“Sherlock, I am going to get into so much trouble for even being in the temple.”_

_“I’ll cover that.This is more important.”_

_“He’s just so— organic— I don’t know if any of the normal ways will work.You already tried the salts.”_

_“Yes, and now you can try something else.I know you have more traditional abilities.”_

_“…”_

_“I know you can do something. Try.”_

 

 

 

Sherlock was standing beside John when he was awake next. 

“It is fixed.Try to summon your weapon.”

John blinked several times, then looked back at his shoulder.The crack was gone. It felt amazing. 

“Someone fixed it for me, you had someone come in. You made me sleep so she could work,” he said, rotating his arm for movement.It was fantastic, like being his whole self again.Even though there was still a ways to go on his broken bones, he was more complete than he had been in ages.“I need to thank her.”

“Summon your weapon.” Sherlock repeated.

John furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure I can. It has been a while since I have been close and—”

“Try.”

John focused inwardly.He had been able to make something once or twice in the past.He had confidence this time, he needed to do so to thank Sherlock.For John, it was like cocking a gun, readying his body and his gem to work together.

A silver glow emanated from the gem and in a fluid motion, John reached for it.

The object was inconsistent, it fluctuated in his grasp.This was what always happened.He needed it to be something.He demanded that it listened to him, for Sherlock’s sake, since he had done so much for him. Sherlock was gazing at him with a look that was careful scrutiny, intense encouragement and a threat. Not a threat to John, but a threat to the weapon to dare fail.

The light began to focus toward John’s hand.

A long, thin object came from the light then clattered to the floor. 

A staff? No.It was a cane.It looked like something straight out of the NHS.He reached for it.It was exactly his height, and perfectly formed for his hand. John was disappointed to say the least.He felt more pathetic than he could express. No wonder he hadn’t been able to summon it completely before. His body had never needed a cane.

“Look, Sherlock, I tried my best, but—“ John started to say.Then he glanced up at Sherlock’s face.He was beaming. 

 He spent the rest of the afternoon examining the cane, describing it as if it was the most beautiful artifact he had seen.Eventually John wasn’t so embarrassed by it.  

 

 

_“They don’t have feelings, they don’t care about anything. Don’t fall for their pretty faces or their fancy talk. Gems are the enemy.”_

_The commanding officer in the cadets was strict and firm.Even though they were essentially children, John had gotten an education from then on that the gems were the bad guys in this endless war.Of course they were, how could they not be?_

_There were exceptions. The cadets were all descended from gems, and there were still Earth gems fighting for the planet.One of the instructors was a Gem herself, Topaz.She would sit silently through the tirade._

_The commander would shout that Gems were evil._

_He didn’t have a gem._

_He was the only one in the room who didn’t._

_But somehow, he was the one who was right._

 

 

Sherlock allowed him to wake up in the morning, standing near this time, not trying to look too eager. He held a small bowl.

“I am to under the understanding that organics like yourself will be requiring more sustenance than I can provide if you are going to be moving around.”He held the bowl out. “I have developed this. It should be nutritively sound for you.”

John tried to sit up again.The pain was much more manageable. Whatever was in the bowl smelled delicious. He righted himself and reached for it. 

“Is this safe for me to drink?” He looked at the murky grey liquid in the bowl.Sherlock nodded.He took a sip.It was like a rich broth.  

“I have been developing it over the last few days,” he said proudly.He appeared to blush under his dark complexion. John nodded and took another gulp.“I looked into your genetic makeup with some of my equipment, and was able to extrapolate the most appropriate foodstuff for your condition.”

“I thought this was a … non-organic planetoid. What did you make this out of?” he said, slurping some more.  

“The blood I collected–“  

John gagged immediately. “What!?”

“Not specifically the blood, but I synthesized neutral cells out of it. Your blood isn’t even in there.”

John tried hard not to vomit.He had been prepared to eat alien food or whatever. This was a bit much. He put the bowl down. “Just for future reference, there is a taboo for humans to consume a product made from other humans.”

Sherlock looked confused and a bit disappointed.John fumbled. “But I sure feel nutritively satisfied!” he added cheerfully.Sherlock smiled and took the bowl away.He returned a minute later, holding something in his hands, small and orange.

“I found this on the planetoid when we first were made.Mycroft and myself.Nobody knows about it, I think, and no other samples were found.”He held out his hand.It looked like a gemshard, but this one was natural, something found. It was amber, John realized.He leaned forward to look at it.Inside the amber, the size of a thumbnail, was a little green leaf.Some sort of fern.“Something was on this planet before us.”

John remembered what Mycroft had said about not considering this.Sherlock had. 

There was a silence as they both observed the little amber.

Then something occurred to John.

“You synthesized the cells for the soup out of that leaf, didn’t you?”

Sherlock grinned, scooped away his hand, magicked the little amber into the place in his gem, and jaunted into the other room.“There is more if you want some later.”

John laughed.

 

 

“I give up. What is the joke?” Sherlock asked suddenly one day.

“What do you mean?”

“You have been making the hair on your face and head grow in minuscule increments every day.Now your face is covered in hair.Were you trying to see if I would notice it?Or did I lose the game because I didn’t tell you that I noticed when I did?”Sherlock was looking at John seriously, as if this was a genuine puzzle.

“No,” John said. “My hair grows because of natural organic processes in my body.I can’t even make it stop if I wanted to. Maybe if I got better at shapeshifting.”

“So this face-thing—“ he said pointing at John’s starting beard, “wasn’t a puzzle for me to solve?”

“Uh, no.”

“Can you make it go away?”

“Probably if you get me a razor and some soap.” John was smiling, shaking his head. This guy was weird.But he expected some other aliens preferred their patient pseudo-hostages to be clean-shaven as well. John also was relieved, the beard was beginning to itch something fierce.

“I will procure it at once.”

 

 

 

 

Sherlock was away for a few days.He’d warped out of the temple on the regular warp pad.He’d left without any explanation, but John knew now where the synthesized food was, and where he was allowed to go now, summoning his cane to lean on.The bed of salts was taken away and a kind of sofa was put in place.It was comfortable and John could rest on it.  

Now that he was left to his own devices, he could tell that this planetoid ran on an approximate 20 hour day, which wasn’t bad for getting used to for a human.He didn’t really get to observe the climate up front, as they were within the temple and they had no windows, but from the porthole viewers that Sherlock had left him, he could examine the planetoid’s surface.The port-hole was a Gem artifact, something like John had seen before.He could use it to see the city nearby.It was the only major population on Goop 1895.Sometimes he saw gems, most of them were similar gems, agates, calcedony and onyx.It made sense, if that was the only mineral deposit they had on the planet. It also made sense to why Sherlock had a name.  

These Gems, they were like normal people. There were streets and buildings.They had jobs.

John felt uneasy about his experience with gems up until now.The memories of scouts where he was programmed that gems had no feelings because they had no humanity, well, he was seeing right now that they had society, and he watched them care for each other.Hell, he was currently having a temple guardian act as his personal nursemaid.  

How terrible must it feel for the gems that were fighting with the humans.Being part of the lies.  

He looked through the porthole again.Did these gems ever fight?Was there any amongst them who led a charge to destroy whatever existed on the planetoid before them?That other Gem, Mycroft, didn’t seem to think so.Sherlock didn’t, but who knew what could have happened before they were made.Mycroft also made sure he was distinguished from the Homeworld Gems.They were the ones that caused the trouble, even if it becomes peaceful afterwards

Will this kind of peace happen after the Earth is taken over? 

 

 

_“They are real Gems. Homeworld Gems.They are here.” The commander was shouting._

_John and Bill were both signed up out of the scouts.They were in uniform, listening to the shouting of their officer._

_“You may think you know what it is like in this war, the propaganda and the scouts were one thing.Now is the big leagues, now you will see.Earth isn’t winning. You have to do something about that, or find somewhere else to go, because we have reports of Kindergartens already being planned for space we haven’t secured.We will need all of your abilities, and every last bit of fight you have left.Because in those tired out man-gems of yours, you won’t be able to do half a squat as much as the ladies can do. Now can you prove yourself to be as good as one of them?”_

_The cadets hollered._

_“I can’t HEAR you!”_

 

 

 

 

 

“You have been lying to me.”

“What?!” John spluttered, “I have answered everything you have asked.Or otherwise just said yes because you figured it all out anyways.”

Sherlock was frowning, his own gem glowing slightly on his forearm.“You are keeping something important from me.What is wrong with you?”

John was taken aback. “You are right, my powers are limited, but that is because my gem has been passed on, and it ended up in me, a male.Males on my planet can’t pass along gems so we’re just treated like canon fodder. Some of us end up accessing some techniques, but most will only master low level polymorph or a protective bubble.”

“What do you do?” demanded Sherlock.“What is the range of your limited abilities.”

“I can do plenty.I don’t need to prove myself to you.”

“You do, actually.”

“What are you talking about?” John asked.  

“Are all the Gems on Earth as useless?Is this the reason why your planet is at war at all?”

John shifted against his cane. “What is wrong with you, what is this all of a sudden?” Sherlock took a step towards the closed-eyes artifact.

“OH no, you aren’t making me sleep again just because this is a complicated conversation.I need to know what is going on.”  

Sherlock continued to the artifact, but John had stood up and was charging him, raising his cane like a weapon.In a flash, Sherlock’s weapon was summoned. It was at first small like a needle, then a baton, then finally became a fencing foil. He slashed at John, but John was quick in summoning a light protective field around him.He glowed silver, and knocked the foil away from Sherlock. 

“That is just defensive, I know you can do more.Show me!” Sherlock rolled to take back his weapon, then struck once more with his foil, this time penetrating the protective glow and sent the cane spinning away from him. Blood, once again, spilled onto John’s shirt.John grit his teeth.

“I don’t want to do this.I appreciate all you have done, so let’s not be enemies, alright?” John crossed his arms, projecting his field outwardly as much as he could, but small cuts were appearing all over his arms. 

“We are enemies.Always will be.The Homeworld owns me and everyone on this planetoid.Our only hope is to be as unassuming as possible so they don’t ship us away.” He thrust and clipped around John’s arms.  

“So, what?You haven’t had to fight before, everything is fine… oh.”

John dropped his arms, and lowered his shield. Sherlock was mid-strike but was stopped.A shudder of silver energy emanated from John, forcing Sherlock to collapse to the floor. 

“They are sending your people to fight my people, aren’t they?”

Sherlock sat himself up. 

“And it is because I am here.”

Sherlock dusted himself off. “That protective move is much better than the first one.If you train it, it can probably be effective in a real battle.”

John took Sherlock’s lack of response as a yes. “How long before they connect all the dots?”

“Not long.Bringing in the healer was ambitious, it was her movements that were monitored. My brother has been receiving word that the surplus population will be sent into space.Earth has become listed as active for repopulation.”

“Then I will just go.I am better now, I can warp home and they will know nothing about any of this.”

Sherlock shook his head.“We didn’t even know that was a warp pad until you arrived.It is ancient.We have never had it working before this.”

“Then we will figure it out together.”

Sherlock was silent. His foil disappeared in a burst of light, ending the fight.John’s cane disappeared as well.

“If Earth is listed for repopulation, does that mean we’ve lost?Me, my people, I mean.Are they gone?”

“I don’t know.”

“Will you tell me if you find out?”

Sherlock looked over at John’s forearm.“I’m sorry for making you bleed.”

“Yeah."

 


End file.
